Field
The invention is related to a method for analyzing a rider performance and a corresponding system and vehicle.
Description of the Related Art
Vehicles that need to be balanced while driving are much more difficult to control compared with for example cars or the like. The reason is that for example two-wheeled vehicles are unstable in a wide speed range. This lack of stability regards all two wheeled vehicles, i.e. a powered two-wheeled vehicle and for example a bicycle. The system that needs to be considered does not only consist of the vehicle itself but also on the human being that controls, balances and stabilizes the vehicle via forces on the steering system but also the rider's body motion and displacement. Thus, the vehicle dynamic and stability of such a system consisting of the human and the machine strongly depend on the rider's capabilities and skills. Since vehicle dynamics and stability directly regard safety of riding such a vehicle it is important that the rider's capabilities are constantly improved. On the other side there are already known assistant systems such as slip control systems that are very helpful for assisting a rider in controlling such vehicle like for example a motorcycle. But of course it makes a big difference if the rider is already very experienced and his control behavior has a high level of skill or if the system shall assist a beginner.
Thus, it is desirable to have knowledge about the skills of the rider currently controlling the vehicle. In the past attempts have been made to determine the rider's skill. For example EP 2 517 952 A1 describes a two-wheeled motor vehicle with a rider characteristic determining apparatus mounted thereon. In order to determine the rider's control characteristics a gyroscope is mounted on the motorcycle. The gyroscope delivers measurement values such as angular speed, and, by integrating angular speed, angles in different directions of yaw, roll and pitch. Also the respective angular rates are measured and the measured values are supplied to a computing unit. On the basis of at least these measured values a turning movement of the vehicle is determined. In order to determine such a turning movement it is analyzed if the yaw rate exceeds a predetermined threshold for at least a particular duration. Then such time interval is considered to correspond to a turning movement of the vehicle. The measured values are then analyzed in this time interval.
One problem of the approach described in EP 2 517 952 A1 is that the analysis that can be made is very limited. In particular the section that is taken into consideration for the analysis comprises a plurality of consecutive different behaviors that have to be performed by the rider. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to improve such rider performance analysis.